In the art of respirators, resuscitators, and the like it is well known to provide apparatus in the form of an enclosure which encompasses a portion of the human body such as the upper torso or thoracic region thereof to provide within the confines of the enclosure a pressure containment chamber wherein pressure variations may be applied to the body to stimulate respiration. A wide variety of such devices are known, the following prior art being representative.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,078,842 discloses a resuscitation apparatus which employs a rigid shell to enclose the torso of a human body. U.S. Pat. No. 4,523,579 discloses another rigid shell type body respirator having flexible side walls. U.S. Pat. No. 2,241,444 discloses a respirator jacket comprised of a rigid shell made by laying up reinforced plaster of paris material on a plaster cast which has been molded to the body contours of the individual user, and which includes an enlarged cavity confronting the chest and adjacent abdominal region of the user. Other rigid shell type resuscitators are disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 4,257,407 and 2,309,361. The latter of these discloses a padded liner in a rigid generally form-fitting respirator.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,899,955 discloses a respirator belt which encircles the waist of a user and includes an inflatable bladder to which air pressure is directed for assisted breathing. U.S. Pat. No. 4,621,621 discloses a respirator including a rigid wire cage that encompasses a portion of a user's body and is in turn encompassed by an air tight cover to provide a vacuum chamber surrounding the user's body. U.S. Pat. No. 3,577,977 discloses a flexible, inflatable bladder-type jacket and U.S. Pat. No. 2,480,980 discloses a rigid, generally form-fitting respirator jacket. Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,664,098 discloses a cardio-pulmonary resuscitator which is worn by a patient in the manner of a belt encompassing the abdominal region.
Notwithstanding such known devices, practitioners in the art have continued to seek improved body respirators. For example, improvements have been continually sought in body respirator compactness, portability, user comfort, reduced power requirements, and of course improved therapeutic efficacy.
Also known in the prior art are a variety of vacuum devices for immobilizing a part of a body. The Rapid Form.TM. brand vacuum splint is one example. Such devices utilize a structure known as vacuum beads to provide a selectively rigid or flexible member that is used, for example as in the case of the above specified vacuum splint, to immobilize selected body parts that have sustained bone fractures or the like. Such known devices generally comprise a thin section airtight envelope filled with material such as styrofoam beads which interengage and deform upon application of a vacuum within the envelope to thereby render the vacuum bead material relatively rigid. The rigid vacuum bead material thus is utilized to immobilize a selected body part.